Are all poisonous snakes Vipers?

Here are six of the deadliest snakes on the planet:

Saw-scaled viper.

King cobra.

Tiger snake.

Inland taipan.

Faint-banded sea snake.

Black mamba.

The eastern diamondback is the largest of all North American most venomous snakes, and it is arguably the most deadly. It has the largest fangs of any rattlesnake species in the world, a very high venom yield, and an absolutely devastating potency.

Copperhead’s bites are rarely the cause of snake bite fatalities. When injected, their venom will cause severe damage to the local tissue and can pave the road for serious, secondary infection. Copperhead venom can be fatal, but often the snake injects very little of the poison when it bites a human.

One of the myths I hear most frequently about Cottonmouths is that they are aggressive. The Cottonmouth’s reputation is not helped by educational websites that say that the animals, “are aggressive snakes and bite when disturbed or provoked…” but also “generally secretive and are not aggressive, so bites are rare”.

Curiously, the Sri Lankan and West African snakes that cause most mortality (saw-scaled vipers, Echis spp.) are absent from the usual lists or way down on the bottom. There even is doubt that the inland taipan (“the world’s most venomous snake”) has caused any human fatalities in the past several decades.

A snake with heat-sensing pits is venomous. Triangular heads are another commonality in most venomous snakes. The rattlesnake, copperhead, and water moccasin all have arrowhead faces. If you can get close enough to see, pit vipers also have pupils that are oblong, like a slit.

The best American state for snake-o-phobes is Alaska, home to no poisonous serpents. In fact, no snakes of any kind have been documented as permanent homesteaders. Close also-rans are Hawaii and Maine, with respectively one and one possible venomous snake species.

Most poisonous snakes have a pupil that resembles a cat’s; an oblong shape with peaked ends, like a slit in the center of the eye. Non-venomous snakes usually have round pupils. There is always the exception. The coral snake, a very venomous snake in the United States, has round pupils.

Vipers include some of the deadliest snakes. A viper has a stocky body, a wide head, and long, hinged fangs at the front of its mouth for injecting venom. The venom causes a very painful wound that can be fatal.

Water moccasins have a reputation for being aggressive, but in reality, they rarely bite humans. They will, however, stand their ground, unlike many nonvenomous water snakes that flee from threats, according to the Virginia Herpetological Society.

king cobras

The Water Moccasin does not have very many predators; in fact most predators leave this snake alone because its venom is so poisonous. The predators of the Water Moccasin snake are king snakes, herons, largemouth bass and humans although humans are very wary around this snake.

Snakes That Swim with Their Heads out of Water. Several different snake species live in the wetlands, ponds and rivers of the southeastern United States. One of these is the venomous cottonmouth—also known as the water moccasin.

There are many harmless watersnakes (genus Nerodia) that are frequently confused with venomous Water Moccasins a.k.a. Cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus). Sadly, harmless snakes are often killed out of fear for the safety of family and pets.

However, many harmless-to-humans snakes, like Hognose snakes, Garter snakes, and Rat snakes for example, do produce toxins that have toxic effects on their prey. Boas, pythons, bullsnakes, and kingsnakes are examples of truly non-venomous snake species.

Vipers are a large family of snakes; the scientific name is Viperidae. The family Viperidae includes adders, pit vipers (like rattlesnakes, cottonmouths and copperheads), the Gaboon viper, green vipers and horned vipers. All vipers are venomous and have long, hinged fangs.

Copperheads. Copperhead snakes have bands of gray and/or brown with a copper-colored heard. They blend in with leaf-covered forest floors and it’s possible to stare right at a copperhead without seeing it! Copperheads bite rather than strike.

The Viperidae (vipers) is a family of venomous snakes found in most parts of the world, excluding Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, Hawaii, various other isolated islands, and north of the Arctic Circle. All have relatively long, hinged fangs that permit deep penetration and injection of snake venom.

Many are killed on highways and others are intentionally killed out of fear. The white chin causes some people to kill this snake, believing that it is a cottonmouth – a venomous snake more commonly called a water moccasin. Racers are nonvenomous and do not breed with cottonmouths.